Who said that if we spoke in Arabic we won't be "cool"? Susan Talhouk - TEDxBeirut
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0:19 - 0:19Good morning.
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0:21 - 0:22Awake?
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0:24 - 0:26They took my badge
but I wanted to ask you, -
0:26 - 0:29Did anyone write their name
on the badge in Arabic? -
0:30 - 0:33Anyone? No one? Ok then...
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0:33 - 0:35No problem
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0:36 - 0:39Once upon a time, not so far away
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0:39 - 0:43I was having dinner with a friend of mine
at a restaurant. -
0:44 - 0:47So I looked at the person serving us
and asked him, -
0:47 - 0:50Do you have a list of dishes?
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0:51 - 0:55He looks at me weirdly thinking
he didn’t hear clear enough and says, -
0:55 - 0:57Sorry?
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0:57 - 1:00So I told him again,
Can you please give me the list of dishes? -
1:01 - 1:03Don’t you know what’s it called?
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1:05 - 1:12Yes. No. It’s called a menu (as it’s said in English)
or “menu” in French right? -
1:12 - 1:14Come see what she wants.
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1:14 - 1:16He was disgusted.
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1:16 - 1:19At first he was trying to hit on me.
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1:19 - 1:21And then he was saying to himself,
I wouldn’t look at her -
1:21 - 1:23even if she was the last girl on Earth.
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1:23 - 1:25A list of dishes? What’s that?
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1:25 - 1:29Two words were enough
for a Lebanese guy -
1:29 - 1:35to judge a woman sitting in his restaurant
of retardation and ignorance. -
1:36 - 1:41How dare she speak so?
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1:42 - 1:44So I started to think.
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1:44 - 1:45I got upset and I was hurt.
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1:46 - 1:47Yes of course I was.
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1:47 - 1:50I’m not allowed to speak
my native language in my own country. -
1:50 - 1:51Where can you find that?
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1:52 - 1:55How could we have possibly
reached this point? -
1:56 - 2:02There’s a lot of people like me in here
who could reach a point in their lives -
2:02 - 2:04where they would erase everything
that already happened -
2:04 - 2:09just to prove that they are
contemporary and civilized? -
2:09 - 2:13Am I going to forget my entire culture
and all of my thoughts, -
2:13 - 2:17all of my knowledge
and all of my memories, -
2:17 - 2:20the best memories of the war
are probably the childhood stories? -
2:21 - 2:25Am I going to forget everything I learnt
in Arabic just to fit in? -
2:25 - 2:29Just to blend in?
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2:29 - 2:31Where’s the logic?
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2:32 - 2:34Nevertheless
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2:34 - 2:36I tried to understand him.
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2:36 - 2:41And I don’t want to judge him
the same harsh way he judged me. -
2:41 - 2:44Arabic doesn’t meet our needs,
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2:44 - 2:45it doesn’t.
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2:45 - 2:48It isn’t a language neither for
scientific production nor for researches. -
2:48 - 2:52You don’t need it
neither at universities nor at work. -
2:53 - 2:58We don’t need it to make
any advanced scientific research. -
2:58 - 3:02We definitely don’t need at the airport.
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3:02 - 3:04Because if we speak Arabic
they’ll take off every piece of our cloth? -
3:06 - 3:08Where are we going to use it?
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3:08 - 3:09We can all ask that.
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3:09 - 3:12Do you want Arabic?
Where will we use it? -
3:13 - 3:19Okay this is an existing reality
but there’s a far more important reality -
3:19 - 3:22that we should consider and notice.
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3:22 - 3:25Arabic or mother language
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3:25 - 3:31studies and reports show
that being fluent in other languages -
3:31 - 3:34requires being fluent in mother language.
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3:35 - 3:37And that being fluent in mother language
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3:37 - 3:41is an essential condition
to excel in other languages. -
3:41 - 3:43How’s that?
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3:43 - 3:48When Gebran Khalil Gebran started writing
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3:48 - 3:50he began writing in Arabic.
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3:50 - 3:52His thoughts,
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3:52 - 3:53his imagination,
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3:53 - 3:55his inner self, his metaphysics,
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3:55 - 3:56his philosophy.
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3:57 - 4:00He took all of these from that child
who sat in the village -
4:00 - 4:03and who grew accustomed
to a certain smell, -
4:03 - 4:05a certain voice and a certain thought.
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4:05 - 4:07So when he began writing in English
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4:08 - 4:11he had a huge knowledge
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4:11 - 4:13even when he was writing in English
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4:13 - 4:14and when we read his writings in English
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4:14 - 4:16we smell the same odor,
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4:16 - 4:18we feel the same feelings,
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4:19 - 4:23we can picture him both the person
excelling in English -
4:23 - 4:24and the one living in the country,
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4:24 - 4:27In a village from Mount Lebanon.
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4:28 - 4:34So that’s one example
that can’t be refuted. -
4:35 - 4:37Second of all, it is said
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4:37 - 4:39if you want to kill a nation,
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4:39 - 4:44the only way to do so
is to kill its language. -
4:44 - 4:49And this fact is known
by developed nations. -
4:50 - 4:53The Germans, the French,
the Japanese, the Chinese. -
4:53 - 4:56All nations are aware of this fact.
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4:56 - 5:00That’s why they pass laws
to protect their language. -
5:00 - 5:02That’s why they sanctify it.
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5:03 - 5:05That’s why they produce
using this language -
5:05 - 5:08and they pay a lot of money
to develop it. -
5:09 - 5:11Do we know more than they do?
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5:12 - 5:15Okay, If we’re not a developed country
and we still have no access -
5:15 - 5:20no to such advanced thinking but
we want to catch up this civilized world. -
5:20 - 5:26Countries alike us have decided now
to develop and to make researches -
5:26 - 5:28and to catch up these countries.
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5:28 - 5:31Like Turkey and Malaysia and others.
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5:32 - 5:35They grasped their language
while climbing the ladder -
5:35 - 5:37as if it was a diamond.
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5:37 - 5:40They preserved it and kept it close
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5:40 - 5:43Because if you receive
any product from Turkey -
5:43 - 5:48or others with no Turkish language
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5:48 - 5:49it wouldn’t be a local product.
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5:49 - 5:52You wouldn’t believe
that it’s a local product. -
5:52 - 5:57They would have consumed and stupidly
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5:57 - 6:01just like we do most of the time.
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6:01 - 6:06So in order to innovate and produce,
they had to preserve their language. -
6:07 - 6:11If I say “Freedom, sovereignty,
independence”, as it’s said in Arabic -
6:11 - 6:14what would it bring to your mind?
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6:16 - 6:18Nothing?
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6:18 - 6:23Regardless of who, how,
and and why but you know, -
6:24 - 6:30language is not speeches
and whatever words we are using. -
6:30 - 6:34Language represents
particular phases through our lives -
6:35 - 6:40to which our emotions relate
along with these terms. -
6:40 - 6:42That’s why when I say
“Freedom, sovereignty, independence” -
6:42 - 6:45each one of you has a certain image
in their mind. -
6:45 - 6:51With certain words and feelings
for a certain day, a historical period. -
6:51 - 6:55So language isn’t mere words
and aligned letters. -
6:55 - 6:58It’s an inner idea
related to the way we think -
6:58 - 7:03and the way we perceive others
and others perceive us. -
7:03 - 7:05What is our intellectual stock?
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7:05 - 7:07Why do we say this person knows
while another doesn’t? -
7:07 - 7:15So if I come and tell you
“Freedom, Soverneighty, independence” -
7:15 - 7:20If your son comes and says,
“You are still following that thing -
7:20 - 7:24that has freedom, that symbol."
What do you feel like? -
7:24 - 7:28If you feel at all then that’s very good.
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7:28 - 7:30We won’t have a problem anymore.
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7:30 - 7:34Let me just leave from here
because I will be talking nonsense. -
7:34 - 7:37The idea here is that these phrases
remind us of certain things. -
7:38 - 7:43My friend is Francophone
and she married a French guy. -
7:44 - 7:47I was asking her how was she doing
in everything, -
7:47 - 7:49and she said it’s all good
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7:49 - 7:54except once I spent an entire night
trying to translate -
7:54 - 7:57what “To’borni” means
(Literally: I would die for you). -
8:05 - 8:08Because She told him “To’borni”
by mistake -
8:08 - 8:14he was thinking, is there anyone
who is that brutal? -
8:15 - 8:19Or maybe she wanted to kill herself?
“Bury me” for example? -
8:20 - 8:23This is something really small
-
8:23 - 8:26but look how much
it makes us feel helpless. -
8:26 - 8:29I can’t tell my husband this word
because he won’t understand it. -
8:29 - 8:31And he is right, that is how he thinks.
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8:32 - 8:35Then she told me
that he listens to Fairouz -
8:35 - 8:38with me but one night
he sat next to me -
8:39 - 8:40and I was trying to translate it
to him maybe. -
8:41 - 8:43He can feel what I feel
when I listen to Fairouz, -
8:43 - 8:45so she wanted to translate.
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8:45 - 8:49“I extended my hands
and stole you away from them. -
8:50 - 8:52And because you belong to them”
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8:53 - 8:53Here is the catastrophe,
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8:54 - 8:56“I pulled my hands back and left you”.
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8:57 - 8:59Translate this for me.
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9:07 - 9:07Ok.
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9:07 - 9:09What did we do
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9:09 - 9:11to protect the Arabic language?
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9:11 - 9:14We have made this
into a civil society issue -
9:15 - 9:17and we launched a campaign
to protect the Arabic language -
9:17 - 9:19even though a lot of people told me,
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9:19 - 9:25“Don’t bother yourself with that”.
No problem. -
9:25 - 9:29The campaign has launched
a slogan that says, -
9:29 - 9:31“I talk to you from the east
and you answer me from the west”. -
9:31 - 9:33We did not say,
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9:33 - 9:38“No, we don’t agree.
And we are the language.” -
9:40 - 9:42We didn’t do that because
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9:42 - 9:44we won’t understand this way.
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9:44 - 9:45And if someone comes to me and says that
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9:46 - 9:47I will start hating the Arabic language
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9:47 - 9:49we are saying that….
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9:52 - 9:54We are trying to see
how we are living in reality. -
9:54 - 9:59Then be convinced with a way
that mimic our dreams and ambitions. -
9:59 - 10:04A way that dress the same way as we do
and thinks the same way as well. -
10:05 - 10:07So “I talk to you from the east
and you answer me from the west” -
10:07 - 10:09Is the perfect saying for such a thing.
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10:09 - 10:13Something that is really simple
but innovative and convincing. -
10:13 - 10:20After that we started a campaign
that has the letters put on the sidewalks. -
10:20 - 10:22You saw it outside here.
-
10:22 - 10:27A letter with a yellow stripe around it
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10:27 - 10:29written on it, “Do not kill your language”.
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10:30 - 10:31Why?
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10:31 - 10:33Seriously do not kill your language.
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10:33 - 10:36We all need to not kill our language
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10:36 - 10:40because if we kill the language
we will have to go back -
10:40 - 10:41and search for an identity.
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10:41 - 10:43We have to look for existence.
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10:43 - 10:45We need to start over from zero.
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10:46 - 10:47Not only that,
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10:47 - 10:52we won’t be able to be civilized
and contemporary. -
10:53 - 10:57Then we took pictures
of young guys and girls -
10:57 - 10:59hugging the Arabic letter.
-
10:59 - 11:01“Cool“ pictures of young people,
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11:02 - 11:04because we are very “cool”.
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11:05 - 11:10And whoever says we caught you
saying an English word (cool), -
11:10 - 11:12I am adopting the word “cool”.
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11:13 - 11:15Let them come and do
whatever they want to do. -
11:15 - 11:19Let them give me a better word
that works on our reality better. -
11:20 - 11:21I will keep saying the “internet”.
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11:21 - 11:25I will not say
“A slice on the spider web” -
11:25 - 11:27because it just doesn’t work.
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11:28 - 11:30We are not kidding ourselves.
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11:30 - 11:33But to get here
we all have to be convinced -
11:33 - 11:36we do not want to make
the one who is bigger -
11:36 - 11:39And thinks he has the power
over the language -
11:39 - 11:44that he can make us think
and feel the way he wants us to. -
11:45 - 11:49The idea here is innovation.
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11:49 - 11:54If we can’t go to space and build a rocket
we can be innovative. -
11:54 - 11:57Every person here
is an innovative project. -
11:58 - 12:00Innovation in the mother language
is the way. -
12:01 - 12:04Let us start now from this moment.
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12:04 - 12:05Write a novel.
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12:05 - 12:07Produce a short film.
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12:07 - 12:09One novel can make us international.
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12:10 - 12:13It can bring back the Arabic language
to the first place. -
12:14 - 12:16It is not like there is no solution.
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12:16 - 12:18Seriously there is.
-
12:18 - 12:20But we have to pay attention
and be convinced -
12:20 - 12:22that there must be a solution.
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12:22 - 12:25And we have to be a part of this solution.
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12:26 - 12:28At the end what can you do today?
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12:28 - 12:32Now? Tweet! Who here is tweeting?
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12:34 - 12:35I beg you.
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12:36 - 12:39Seriously I beg you even though
time is almost done. -
12:39 - 12:44In Arabic, English, French
or even in Chinese. -
12:44 - 12:50But don’t write “Ma’oul”
(reasonable) like “Ma32oul”. -
12:54 - 12:56Because that is a disaster.
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12:55 - 12:57This is not a language.
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12:57 - 13:01You are entering a virtual language
and a virtual world -
13:01 - 13:04and no one will take us away
from this place ever. -
13:05 - 13:06That was the first thing we can do.
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13:07 - 13:09Secondly there are a lot of things
that we can do -
13:09 - 13:12today no one is convincing anyone
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13:12 - 13:15we are here to be alert about the subject
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13:15 - 13:17and now I will tell you a secret.
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13:19 - 13:25A child when born the first way
he recognizes his father through language. -
13:26 - 13:29So once my daughter is born
I will tell her -
13:29 - 13:32(Arabic): “This is your dad honey”.
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13:32 - 13:36Not this is your dad honey.
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13:37 - 13:41And in the super market
I will promise Noor if she thanks me -
13:41 - 13:44I wouldn’t tell her,
“Daites merci mama”. -
13:44 - 13:46And I hope that no one heard her.
-
13:58 - 14:03Let us get away
from this foreigner complex.
- Title:
- Who said that if we spoke in Arabic we won't be "cool"? Susan Talhouk - TEDxBeirut
- Description:
-
Susan Talhouk - President of the "Fe'el Amer" Association - takes the initiative to revitalize the Arabic language updates, and to revive the use of Arabic as a creative expression language, in order to reclaim our identity and to overcome the inferiority complex towards foreign cultures.
- Video Language:
- Arabic
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 14:15
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Ivana Korom approved English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Azhurry accepted English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Azhurry edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for مين قال إذا حكينا عربي منبطل "كول"؟ سوزان تلحوق - TEDxBeirut |